The increasing concern about environment and the need to limit our energetic dependence on fossil fuels, push toward the utilization of alternative fuels (e.g. NG/H2 mixtures, biogas/bio-methane) in both industrial and domestic applications.
In this framework, large interest is paid to novel combustion technologies, as Flameless or Moderate-or-Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion, ensuring a large fuel flexibility with high combustion efficiency and low NOx emissions.
The utilization of alternative fuels and development of novel combustion technologies require a deep insight into the combustion process in complex domains through advanced numerical simulations.
Activities on this topic are:
- Combustion of H2 admixtures from domestic to industrial scale systems
- Development of numerical tools for MILD combustion
- Analysis of novel diagnostics



Research group
Prof. Chiara Galletti,
Prof. Leonardo Tognotti,
Dott. Rachele Ramioni
External collaborations:
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (Prof. Alessandro Parente)
- Shahid Beheshti University, Iran (Prof. Javad Aminian)
- Istituto di Ricerche sulla Combustione-CNR (Dr. Mara de Joannon)
- Aziende di settore (Immergas)
Funding:
- FAR-FAS 2007-2013 “STECH – Smart Turbine TECHnologies (STECH)”
- Regione Toscana, Filiera Idrogeno, DICCISM/DICI 2009-2012;
- Ricerca di sistema – CNR/Tecnologie carbone pulito, DICCISM 2010-2012
- FISR 2006 “Sistemi Integrati di Produzione di Idrogeno e sua Utilizzazione nella Generazione Distribuita
Main publications:
- Aminian, J., Galletti, C., Tognotti, L. Impact of sub-grid scale models on resolving mixing and thermal shear layers in large eddy simulation of JHC flames (2019) Applied Thermal Engineering, 149, pp. 1244-1254.
- Galletti, C., Ferrarotti, M., Parente, A., Tognotti, L. Reduced NO formation models for CFD simulations of MILD combustion (2015) International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 40, pp. 4884-4897.
- Isaac, B.J., Parente, A., Galletti, C., Thornock, J.N., Smith, P.J., Tognotti, L. A novel methodology for chemical time scale evaluation with detailed chemical reaction kinetics (2013) Energy and Fuels 27, pp. 2255-2265.
- Galletti, C., Parente, A., Derudi, M., Rota, R., Tognotti, L. Numerical and experimental analysis of NO emissions from a lab-scale burner fed with hydrogen-enriched fuels and operating in MILD combustion (2009) International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34, pp. 8339-8351.
- Galletti, C., Parente, A., Tognotti, L. Numerical and experimental investigation of a mild combustion burner (2007) Combustion and Flame 151, pp. 649-664.